May 2nd, 2026 – Office of Readings – Memorial – Divine Office: Liturgy of the Hours
Ribbon Placement:
Liturgy of the Hours Vol. II:
Ordinary: 1045
Psalter: Saturday, Week IV, 1606
Proper of Seasons: 803 (first reading)
Proper of Saints: 1808 (second reading, concluding prayer)
Office of Readings for Saturday in Easter, the Memorial of Saint Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor
God, come to my assistance.
— Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
— as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia.
HYMN
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
Beneath the shadow of Your throne
Your saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is your arm alone,
And our defense is sure.
Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting you are God,
To endless years the same.
A thousand ages in your sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
Time, like an ever rolling stream,
Bears all our lives away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be now our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.
𝄞"O God, Our Help in Ages Past" by Melinda Kirigin-Voss [https://divineoffice.org/melinda-kirigin-voss/], Vince Clark • Musical Score [https://divineoffice.org/wp-content/uploads/O-God-Our-Help-in-Ages-Past.pdf] • Title: O God, Our Help in Ages Past; Text: Based on Psalm 90; Isaac Watts, 1674-1748, Psalms of David..., 1719, alt.; Tune: ST. ANNE, CM; later form of melody (rhythm adapted), attr. to William Croft, 1678-1727, A Supplement to the New Version of Psalms, 1708; Artist: Melinda Kirigin-Voss, Vince Clark; Copyright 2016 Surgeworks Inc. • Albums that contain this Hymn: Divine Office
PSALMODY
Ant. 1 Lord, in your anger, do not punish me, alleluia.
Psalm 38
A sinner in extreme danger prays earnestly to God
All his friends were standing at a distance (Luke 23:49).
I
O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger;
do not punish me, Lord, in your rage.
Your arrows have sunk deep in me;
your hand has come down upon me.
Through your anger all my body is sick:
through my sin, there is no health in my limbs.
My guilt towers higher than my head;
it is a weight too heavy to bear.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
— as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
Ant. Lord, in your anger, do not punish me, alleluia.
Ant. 2 Lord, you know all my longings, alleluia.
II
My wounds are foul and festering,
the result of my own folly.
I am bowed and brought to my knees.
I go mourning all the day long.
All my frame burns with fever;
all my body is sick.
Spent and utterly crushed,
I cry aloud in anguish of heart.
O Lord, you know all my longing:
my groans are not hidden from you.
My heart throbs, my strength is spent;
the very light has gone from my eyes.
My friends avoid me like a leper;
those closest to me stand afar off.
Those who plot against my life lay snares;
those who seek my ruin speak of harm,
planning treachery all the day long.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
— as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
Ant. Lord, you know all my longings, alleluia.
Ant. 3 I confess my guilt to you, Lord; do not abandon me, for you are my savior, alleluia.
III
But I am like the deaf who cannot hear,
like the dumb unable to speak.
I am like a man who hears nothing,
in whose mouth is no defense.
I count on you, O Lord:
it is you, Lord God, who will answer.
I pray: “Do not let them mock me,
those who triumph if my foot should slip.”
For I am on the point of falling
and my pain is always before me.
I confess that I am guilty
and my sin fills me with dismay.
My wanton enemies are numberless
and my lying foes are many.
They repay me evil for good
and attack me for seeking what is right.
O Lord, do not forsake me!
My God, do not stay afar off!
Make haste and come to my help,
O Lord, my God, my savior!
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
— as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
Psalm-prayer
Do not abandon us, Lord our God; you did not forget the broken body of your Christ, nor the mockery his love received. We, your children, are weighed down with sin; give us the fullness of your mercy.
Ant. I confess my guilt to you, Lord; do not abandon me, for you are my savior, alleluia.
Sacred Silence (indicated by a bell) A moment to reflect and receive in our hearts the full resonance of the voice of the Holy Spirit and to unite our personal prayer more closely with the word of God and public voice of the Church.
You will hear the word from my mouth.
— You will tell others what I have said.
READINGS
First reading
From the book of Revelation
18:1-20
The destruction of Babylon
I, John, saw another angel coming down from heaven. His authority was so great that all the earth was lighted up by his glory. He cried out in a strong voice:
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!
She has become a dwelling place for demons.
She is a cage for every unclean spirit,
a cage for every filthy and disgusting bird;
For she has made all the nations drink
the poisoned wine of her lewdness.
The kings of the earth committed fornication with her,
and the world’s merchants grew rich from her wealth
and wantonness.”
Then I heard another voice from heaven say:
“Depart from her, my people,
for fear of sinning with her
and sharing the plagues inflicted on her!
For her sins have piled up as high as heaven,
and God keeps count of her crimes.
Pay her back as she has paid others;
pay her double for her deeds!
Pour into her cup twice the amount she concocted!
In proportion to her boasting and sensuality,
repay her in torment and grief!
For she said to herself,
‘I sit enthroned as a queen.
No widow am I,
and never will I go into mourning!’
Therefore her plagues will come all at once,
death and mourning and famine.
She shall be consumed by fire,
for mighty is the Lord God who condemns her.”
The kings of the earth who committed fornication with her and wallowed in her sensuality will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke arise as she burns. They will keep their distance for fear of the punishment inflicted on her, and will say:
“Alas, alas, great city that you are,
Babylon the mighty!
In a single hour your doom has come!”
The merchants of the world will weep and mourn over her too, for there will be no more market for their imports—their cargoes of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen and purple garments, silk and scarlet cloth; fragrant wood of every kind, all sorts of ivory pieces and expensive wooden furniture; bronze, iron and marble; cinnamon and amomum, perfumes, myrrh and frankincense; wine and olive oil, fine flour and grain; cattle and sheep, horses and carriages; slaves and human lives.
“The fruit your appetite craved
has deserted you.
All your luxury and splendor are gone;
you shall never find them again!”
The merchants who deal in these goods, who grew rich from business with the city, will keep their distance for fear of the punishment inflicted on her. Weeping and mourning, they cry out:
“Alas, alas, the great city,
dressed in fine linen
and purple and scarlet,
Adorned all in gold
and jewels and pearls!
In a single hour
this great wealth has been destroyed!”
Every captain and navigator, all sailors and seafaring men, then stood at a distance and cried out when they saw the smoke go up as the city burned to the ground: “What city could have compared with this great one!” They poured dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and mourning:
“Alas, alas, the great city,
in which all shipowners grew rich
from their profitable trade with her!
In a single hour
her destruction has come about!”
Rejoice over her, you heavens, you saints, apostles and prophets! For God has exacted punishment from her on your account.
RESPONSORY Isaiah 52:11, 12; Revelation 18:4; Jeremiah 51:45
Depart from Babylon, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the Lord,
— for the Lord shall lead you forth, and the God of Israel shall be your rear guard, alleluia.
Depart from Babylon, my people; let each one save himself from the anger of the Lord.
— For the Lord shall lead you forth, and the God of Israel shall be your rear guard, alleluia.
Second reading
From a discourse by Saint Athanasius, bishop
On the incarnation of the Word
The Word of God, incorporeal, incorruptible and immaterial, entered our world. Yet it was not as if he had been remote from it up to that time. For there is no part of the world that was ever without his presence; together with his Father, he continually filled all things and places.
Out of his loving-kindness for us he came to us, and we see this in the way he revealed himself openly to us. Taking pity on mankind’s weakness, and moved by our corruption, he could not stand aside and see death have the mastery over us; he did not want creation to perish and his Father’s work in fashioning man to be in vain. He therefore took to himself a body, no different from our own, for he did not wish simply to be in a body or only to be seen.
If he had wanted simply to be seen, he could indeed have taken another, and nobler, body. Instead, he took our body in its reality.
Within the Virgin he built himself a temple, that is, a body; he made it his own instrument in which to dwell and to reveal himself. In this way he received from mankind a body like our own, and, since all were subject to the corruption of death, he delivered this body over to death for all, and with supreme love offered it to the Father. He did so to destroy the law of corruption passed against all men, since all died in him. The law, which had spent its force on the body of the Lord, could no longer have any power over his fellowmen. Moreover, this was the way in which the Word was to restore mankind to immortality, after it had fallen into corruption, and summon it back from death to life. He utterly destroyed the power death had against mankind—as fire consumes chaff—by means of the body he had taken and the grace of the resurrection.
This is the reason why the Word assumed a body that could die, so that this body, sharing in the Word who is above all, might satisfy death’s requirement in place of all. Because of the Word dwelling in that body, it would remain incorruptible, and all would be freed for ever from corruption by the grace of the resurrection.
In death the Word made a spotless sacrifice and oblation of the body he had taken. By dying for others, he immediately banished death for all mankind.
In this way the Word of God, who is above all, dedicated and offered his temple, the instrument that was his body, for us all, as he said, and so paid by his own death the debt that was owed. The immortal Son of God, united with all men by likeness of nature, thus fulfilled all justice in restoring mankind to immortality by the promise of the resurrection.
The corruption of death no longer holds any power over mankind, thanks to the Word, who has come to dwell among them through his one body.
RESPONSORY Jeremiah 15:19, 20; 2 Peter 2:1
You will be my spokesman. I will make you a solid wall of brass to these people.
— They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail, for I am with you, alleluia.
False teachers will arise. They will secretly bring in destructive heresies and deny the Master who saved them.
— They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail, for I am with you, alleluia.
CONCLUDING PRAYER
Almighty ever-living God,
who raised up the Bishop Saint Athanasius
as an outstanding champion of your Son’s divinity,
mercifully grant, that, rejoicing in his teaching
and his protection, we may never cease
to grow in knowledge and love of you.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
— Amen.
ACCLAMATION (at least in the communal celebration)
Let us praise the Lord.
— And give him thanks.
